And this one time, at band camp
by Rinna Zeki-Xiphos
Summary: Summer time only means two things, getting out of school and going to...band camp! The FF7 cast and a few other favorite characters make an appearance and endure the hardest adventure ever...surviving band camp.
1. Chapter I: Prelude

A/N: Nothing but general idea belongs to me. I'll credit Squaresoft for most of everything, but anything else doesn't belong to me. So it's not mine! Yah!! So some of these people are going to be horribly out of character but y'know I can only do so much and some of these people I just wanted out of character just for the fun of it. (*grabs big squishy thingies that you use in tae kwon do class and holds it in front of her face, just in case*) Mkay so you all can diss this as much as you want and I'll just diss myself along with you and it'll all be cool.   
  
Also, I no longer have Microsoft Word. I am under the cruel reign of WordPad. Please forgive misspelled words and worst of all, bad formatting. On top of everything else the future isn't looking too bright, but maybe this'll turn out okay. =D (The future of my stories, not my future. I'm not that pessimistic.)  
  
Alrighty, let's get rockin' now..  
  
Chapter One: Prelude  
  
A warm, gentle summer's breeze blew through the International College Campus, blowing a few leaves on the ground around. The warm, golden sun beamed down on the campus, and the only clouds in the sky were the puffy white ones that little children try to pretend into shapes. It was a beautiful day, one perfect for taking long, peaceful walks in.  
  
  
  
Yet the young ninja skipped across the campus quite anxiously, a travel bag thrown over her shoulder and a hard, black case clutched in her hands. She was about five feet tall in height, with black hair and brown eyes.  
  
  
  
(-Everyone here looks so funny...-) she thought to herself, giving everyone who glanced in her general direction a suspicious glare.   
  
(-But...at least I'm out of materia-less Wutai!...the only catch is I'm lost and check-in is in...three minutes?!-) With this thought the ninja started to run faster, until she ran smack into the person in front of her.  
  
"Oh wow, I'm so sorry!" she yelped, jumping up only to have to look straight up to see the person's eyes.   
  
"I would imagine you are," the person replied, and the ninja had trouble telling if he was serious or joking. He stared down at her from a height of about 6'1", green eyes gilttering omniously and white hair shining in the sun. In his hands were a travel bag similar to the ninja's....and a long black case.  
  
"Band camp!" the ninja blurted out suddenly. "You're going to band camp!"  
  
"Why else would I be carrying a huge musical instrument?" the man questioned.  
  
"Oh yeah...duh..." the ninja smacked her forehead, feeling rather foolish. "Well, where are we supposed to be going, d'ya know?"  
  
The white-haired man, about 18 in age to the ninja's guesses, pointed straight ahead, where a long, winding, snake-like line of people led back to where the two stood.  
  
"Oh..." the ninja sighed. "Looks like we got a wait in store..."  
  
Meanwhile, near the front of the line...  
  
"Um, Cloud?" asked the fifteen year old, brown haired girl for the hundredth time.  
  
And for the hundredth time, the spiky-blonde haired, blue eyed, sixteen year old boy looked up from the brocure on SOLDIER he was reading.  
  
"What, Tifa?" he asked patiently, trying to predict her next pointless question.  
  
"Um...are there a lot of clarinets at band camp?"  
  
"Yeah," he replied simply, going back to his brochure. "Lots."  
  
"Um, Cloud?"  
  
He glanced up again, patience beginning to wear thin after an hour or two of this.  
  
"Um, because it's my first year, will everyone hate me?" Tifa inquired, a worried, upset expression passing through her brown eyes.  
  
"No," he responded, folding up his brochure. "But we're finally here."  
  
Tifa beamed, but smile dissolved as a group of flutists cut in front of them.  
  
"Here's to another hour," Cloud mumbled, going back to his brochure.  
  
And in the middle of the ridicously long line...  
  
The man dressed in black stared at the girl in front of him. He'd already guessed her age as a year younger than his age of eighteen. She was dressed in a red shirt and denim jeans, and was sitting on the ground, occasionally brushing a strand of brown hair out of her greenish-blue eyes. They'd been standing in line for about an hour or so, but he hadn't spoken to her. She now, however, had pulled out a notebook and was making beautiful oragami flowers with the greatest of ease. Enough people had asked her if they could have one that she was now selling them for a gil a piece. Of course, if the person couldn't afford to pay her the miniscule amount, she'd give them a flower anyway. One person had asked her quite rudely why she was charging, and she'd replied simply that it took money to survive.   
  
He fished in his pocket and pulled out one gil, handing it to her.  
  
She smiled and delicately folded up a fragile flower, gently placing it in his hands.  
  
"Thank you," he said, staring at the detailed, intricite folds in the paper.  
  
"No, thank you," she beamed. "I'm Aerith Gainsborough," the flower girl introduced herself as.  
  
"I'm Vincent Valentine," he replied queitly.  
  
"A pleasure," Aerith smiled, folding more flowers.  
  
A few hours later...  
  
"So...I'm Yuffie Kisaragi!"  
  
The white haired man stared at her, but said nothing. The line was finally almost at its end.  
  
"I'm Sephiroth," he said after a moment.  
  
"Huh...first year here?" She questioned anxiously. He noticed she never seemed to stop moving, and her eyes were always staring for...what was it she was looking for? He had no idea but she looked around the area with interested eyes...almost too interested, as if there was something she wanted...  
  
"...try 4th or 5th," he corrected her, gripping his travel bag tighter. "I never can remember."  
  
"Wow, so you're like an old pro! You can help me out, introduce me to people, help me get materi--um...friends, help me not look stupid..."  
  
"That's a little more than I alone can handle," Sephiroth said in reference to her last comment.  
  
"HEY!!" the little ninja crossed her arms, fuming silently for a moment before her talkative side kicked in and she thought up another conversation starter. "So what instrument do you play?"  
  
"Tenor saxaphone," Sephiroth replied, glancing from his case to the line, willing it to grow shorter.  
  
"I play oboe," Yuffie grinned. "Hey look, the line's getting shorter!"  
  
(-Probably a mirage. That's about my luck.-) Sephiroth thought to himself with a sigh.  
  
At the front of the line...  
  
"Finally, checked in!" Tifa smiled. "Um, Cloud? Where do I go now?"  
  
"...they assigned you to a dorm. Go there and you'll get more information."  
  
"B-but--"  
  
"You won't get lost, Tifa. Just go."  
  
And then there's Vincent and Aerith...  
  
After the longest line ever, Vincent finally found himself at the check in desk.  
  
"Name?" the lady asked boredly, holding an inkpen and one of those 'hello my name is ____' name tags.  
  
"Vincent Valentine."  
  
"Instrument?" She smelled strongly of something like fish...he tried to ignore it. Maybe he'd just been out in the sun too long.  
  
"Flute."  
  
"Hey I used to play flute too!" came Aerith's cheerful voice from behind him.  
  
He tried not to glare at her as he waited for her to laugh.  
  
"What?" she finally asked in an innocent, questioning voice.  
  
"Go ahead and laugh. I'm used to it."  
  
"Are you kidding?! The first-chair flutist at our school is a guy and he's really talented! I'm not going to laugh."  
  
"Your name tag and keys, sir," the fish-lady frowned, tossing them at him.  
  
He caught them easily, glancing at the name tag. Vynsint Valintin, flute 1.  
  
"Um, ma'-am--"  
  
"NEXT!!"  
  
He walked ahead, deciding to ignore the spelling mistake. It wouldn't kill him, after all. After a few minutes, Aerith ran up behind him.  
  
"Did they mess up your tag too?" she questioned with a small smile.  
  
He glanced at her tag. Aaerithe Ganesburgh, alto flute.  
  
"Yes," he answered."  
  
"Wonder if it's just us or if it's everyone," she giggled.  
  
"Oh it's everyone," came an irritble voice from behind them. "Yuffie Kisaragi. I mean, I spelled it for her! Not that hard!"  
  
The ninja's tag read Yoofy Keesuhrahgi, oboe 2. Even Vincent had to admit he would have had a better guess than that.  
  
"It's probably everyone's, in that case."  
  
"Sephiroth!" Aerith exclaimed cheerfully. "Long time no see!"  
  
"When'd I last see you...what was it, at Shinra?" Sephiroth--or Sefrof, as his tag read--questioned.  
  
"Possibly. I can't remember. Well, let's go," Aerith smiled and walked up the stairs to the dorms.  
  
A huge group of band-campers were crowded in the commons area of one of the dorms.  
  
"Wonder who I'll be rooming with," Aerith said to herself as she glanced down at the sheet of paper that held all of her information on it. She took the key she'd been given and opened the dorm that would be hers while she was there. Inside was a brown-haired girl hanging up her clothes in her closet. She jumped at the sight of Aerith, though she seemed to be rather nervous to start with.  
  
"Um, I'm sorry!"  
  
"It's allright, whatever you did. I'm your roommate, Aerith Gainsborough."  
  
"I'm Tifa Lockheart," Tifa pasued, then glanced at Aerith's nametag. "Did they spell your name right?"  
  
"No," Aerith laughed, looking at hers. Teefuh Lokhart. She doubted that was correct either.  
  
"Mine either," Tifa smiled nervously.  
  
"First year?"  
  
"Yeah," Tifa bit her lip.  
  
"Dont' sweat it. I remember my first year. I ended up getting worried over nothign at all. I didn't know anyone. It was really easy, though, making new friends. And then people from my school started coming and believe me, these two weeks are some of the best of the year. You'll do fine."  
  
"Thanks, Aerith," Tifa smiled.  
  
"Anytime," Aerith beamed, quickly unpacking all her things and putting her alto flute together. "Hmm...wonder who'll be the director this year...the first year it was this nice girl named Yuna. We all liked her, she was really nice and pretty much let us get away with anything, heh...Last year it was this person named Jenova...but Yuna moved away and I heard Jenova's directing a different band camp..." She paused, considering this. "Well, our counselors are meeting with us outside in a fwe minutes before they show us the band room, so you might want to put your instrument together."  
  
Tifa nodded as Aerith walked outside to greet some of her old friends. Where was the group of people she had spent the most time with last year?  
  
"Cid and Barret!" She cried, running over to her friends Cid Highwind and Barret Wallace.  
  
"Aerith," they both nodded, smiling.  
  
"Haven't seen you since...hm...last year, maybe?" Cid winked at her.   
  
"Sounds about right," Aerith laughed. Cid and Barret lived on a completely different continent as her. The only time Aerith ever saw them was at band camp. She looked around for more old friends and saw someone she recognized from her school. "And is that...Nanaki?!"  
  
"Hello, Aerith," Nanaki smiled, walking over.  
  
"Um, what instrument do you play?" Aerith asked politely, trying to figure out how Nanaki was able to hold an instrument.  
  
"Attempting xylophone," Nanaki said cheerfully.  
  
"That's neat," Aerith nodded eagerly, staring past him to someone leaning against the wall.  
  
"Ooooh Aerith," came the voice of Aerith's other friend Shera. "Who are you looking at?"  
  
"No one," Aerith quickly denied, averting her gaze from the spiky-haired boy to Shera.  
  
"Oh -I- see who you're looking at! The electric guitarist over there, huh?"  
  
"Shera, don't be so obvious, please!" Aerith whispered, blusing furiously.  
  
"I'm not," Shera retorted, then smiled. "Hey I think he's looking at you!"  
  
Aerith glanced up, her greenish-blue eyes locking into his blue ones.  
  
"May I have everyone's attention, please!" A counselor called out, clapping his hands. "Hey, people!"  
  
Yet the chaos continued as people ignored the counseler.  
  
"QUIET!" yelled the other one, and everyone was silent.  
  
The male counselor who couldn't get anyone's attention glanced to the other counselor, amused, before introducing himself.  
  
"I'm Zidane Tribal," he said. "and this is Fujin." He glanced at Fujin, waiting for her to say something. When she didn't say anything, he continued, reading off a ridicuously long list of rules that ended with "And everyone who puts canned cheese in the air vent this year will be forever expelled from band camp."  
  
Tifa looked to Cloud.  
  
"...um, why'd he say that?" she asked curiously.  
  
"...last year Reno and Rude brought some of that canned cheese and put it in Elena's vent so that when Elena turned the air conditioner on, cheese would go everywhere," Cloud explained tonelessly. He personally had found it rather immature and Jenova had gotten on everyone's case about it which made it worse, but Tifa giggled anwyay.  
  
"Weren't those the days," Sephiroth said in a half-sarcastic, half-amused tone to Cloud.  
  
"Living under Jenova's evil reign..." Cloud continued.  
  
"I hope Director Yuna chose to return," Sephiroth said, voice tinged with hope.  
  
"Heck, me too, but after Jenova I think we can handle any director," Cloud commented.  
  
"Was Jenova that bad?" Tifa asked in a slightly scared voice.  
  
"I think that would be an understatement," Sephiroth lifted an eyebrow. "Your opinion, Cloud?"  
  
"I think you're right," Cloud grinned. "Oh, this is my friend Tifa Lockheart. Tifa, this is Sephiroth."  
  
"Nice to meetcha," Tifa smiled.  
  
"Allright! If I could have your attention," Zidane called out, "we'll now be heading to the band room where you'll get your music and meet this year's new director. Move out!"  
  
"We follow him, right?" Tifa asked.  
  
"Yep," Cloud confirmed.  
  
"Aerith!" Sephiroth suddenly called out. Cloud looked around to see who he was calling. "Come here!"  
  
The brown-haired girl he'd seen from earlier walked over.  
  
"What is it, Sephiroth?" she smiled.  
  
"Know who the director is this year?" he asked.  
  
"Hmm..." Aerith bit her lip. "I've heard a lot of rumors, but I don't believe any of them. I've heard everything from the legendary Mario to Odin himself, so who really knows?" Aerith looked from Sephiroth to Cloud. "I'm forgetting my manners! I'm Aerith Gainsborough. A pleasure to meet you," she smiled shyly.  
  
"Cloud Strife," he nodded.  
  
Just then, the three people Aerith had been takling to previously ran over.  
  
"Um, Aerith, we got an issue! My bass clarinet--"  
  
"Let me see, Shera," Aerith said gently, taking it from Shera's hands. "Um, someone hold this, please?" Aerith held out her own instrument.  
  
"Sure," Cloud reached out and took the clean, polished instrument, turning it over in his hands. "What kinda flute-thingy is this?"  
  
"Alto flute," Aerith said distractedly, carefully popping a wire back into place on Shera's bass clarinet. "I think that should do it."  
  
"Thank you!" Shera grinned. "It's always breaking."  
  
"Because you're so clumsy," Cid muttered.  
  
"Oh, Tifa! These are my friends! You probably already know this is Shera, and this is Barret Wallace, and this is Cid Highwind."  
  
They walked in silence for awhile, enjoying the peaceful afternoon air and the scent of the freshly bloomed flower petals drifting lazily through the air and leaving a fresh, summer scent.  
  
"Are we there yet?" Barret finally said, shattering the tranquility.  
  
Sephiroth let out a sneeze that sounded somewhat like a masked laugh.  
  
~//~  
  
Everyone filed in the band room and took their seats. Aerith was inbetween Vincent and Yuffie, and a row in front of Tifa, which suited her just fine. Everyone was whispering anxiously amongst themselves as they awaited the director's arrival.  
  
The trumpets sounded--literally. Aerith smiled to see that the trumpetists Biggs, Jessie, and Wedge had returned. They played a catchy little fanfare as the director walked in. He stood at the front of the band, analyzing every single one of them. Silence hung heavy in the air.  
  
"So, who are you?"  
  
Tifa turned around to see who'd broken the uneasy silence. A small, cat-like thing holding a trumpet and standing on a mog that was playing trombone was the culprit.  
  
The conductor glanced at his seating chart.  
  
"Ah, Cait Sith," he said. "I am your conductor. You will refer to me as Commander Leonhart, understood?" he frowned, as there was no response. "Am I understood?!"  
  
"Sir, yes sir," Yuffie said in a meek, innocent vocie.  
  
Cloud glanced over to Sephiroth and one thought ran through their minds.  
  
-And we thought Jenova was bad-....  
  
~//~  
  
A/N: Okay I wrote that last night before I went to bed so have mercy on me! Also, *dodges a flurry of lionhearts* I like squall he just fit the role of the person i was looking for and I promise I'll write a fanfic where squall is like, the hero or something to make up for making him look stupid in this one! again, apologies for bad spelling and bad formatting! hopefully i'll get ahold of M-word sometime soon!  
  
This is what I'm kind of hoping for. Maybe, if you all decide to review or whatever, you could post funny stories that have happened to you during band/bandcamp/sumemrcamp/any funny story that I could tie into this because some of these instances have actually happened to me and other people I know so I think it'd be cool if we had real life instances so yeah! It's like, late here so I'm signing off. Hope you liked! ~xifa 


	2. Chapter II: Our First Lesson in Music Th...

A/N: Thanks to Black Night Angel and Leonhart Loire for reading and reviewing! I was afraid that no one was gonna read this! (And yeah, I am a band member. I'm on  
  
alto-flute/piccolo)  
  
That said I only have two things left to say before I start the story. Number one, I apologize if Sephiroth is majorly out of character. I played FF7 again the other   
  
night to see how he acted, and he was...well, evil. So if he's majorly out of character, sorry. As for some of my other characters (like Squall, heh) they're supposed to be  
  
out of character. So yeah. Number two, I apologize for all my spelling mistakes! I'm trying to catch as many as I can but if I let one slip I'm sorry.   
  
Finally, if any of you people have any funny band/whatever stories to share, go ahead and e-mail them to me or put them somewhere where I can find them. I'd  
  
kind of like to turn this into, like, a personal connection to all of us or something, y'know? Some of the things that have happened in here are either things that have   
  
happened to me in band or things that other people have told me about. (Like the whole cheese thing in chapter one. I was on a message board talking once and that  
  
was some guy's story about their tribute to band 'The String Cheese Incident'. And a lot of the stuff they say is quotes from people I know.) So if you have any funny   
  
stories, send 'em to me, I'll mention they're yours up in the notes section, and we'll all be happy.  
  
Thanks to all who've read and continue to bear with me! ~Xifa~  
  
Oh yeah and when you reach like, the section where they're in the music theory class, here's a key to help you figure out who's saying what.  
  
Aeris  
  
Cid  
  
[Barret]  
  
*Yuffie*  
  
~Tifa~  
  
\Cloud/  
  
~//~  
  
Chapter II: Our First Lesson in Music Theory  
  
"Why do I have to take music theory?" Yuffie whined, slowly following the rest of the group she'd forced her way into as they walked to a musical theory class. It would  
  
last the entire morning, then they'd have lunch and go to band from lunch until five.  
  
"Why do I have to learn rhythms? I'm not a drummer," Barret shrugged.  
  
Yuffie sighed and Barret smiled.  
  
"It's probably the only time we ever have an actual course in music theory," Aerith pointed out. "I don't know about your schools, but Sector 5 hardly bothers with  
  
a music program, much less an actual class on musical theory."  
  
"Wuitai's too small," Yuffie shrugged, and everyone could tell she was thinking something along the lines of 'and it's a good thing they are'.  
  
"Well, Rocket Town does," Cid grinned, "but it's an elective class and if I don't -have- to take it, I don't wanna."  
  
"Why's that not surprise me?" Barret mumbled, ducking a punch from Cid.  
  
"Guys...calm down..." Aerith sighed. "Look, we're there."  
  
Yuffie gulped.  
  
"We have class...in there...for FOUR hours," she said faintly.  
  
"Two," Aerith corrected her. "They pull you out for two hours for section lessons. Um...all the sections, like you're in the oboe section, all practice together. They never  
  
put that on the schedule though. I think they enjoy seeing most of the people panic like you did..."  
  
"I'm gonna turn into a mindless musical zombie!" Yuffie cried.  
  
Everyone stared her, then walked into the classroom.  
  
~//~  
  
Part of me gets the opinion that you're not listening to a word that our lovely teacher in theory Instructor Trepe is saying, Aerith.  
  
Aerith scanned over the folded up piece of paper and glanced over to where Cid sat, a row over and a seat in front of her. He grinned and winked before pretending  
  
to pay attention to the instructor.  
  
Cid, I could probably recite to you everything Instructor Trepe's said within the last five minutes   
  
Yeah, but what about the five minutes before that?  
  
Aerith smiled.  
  
I can't make any guarantees.  
  
She slid it across the floor back to him, but Barret picked it up instead.  
  
[Good job on staying awake you two! It's more than I've managed to accomplish!]  
  
Aerith smiled, and was about ready to write back when Yuffie stole it from behind her.  
  
*I swear all I can hear is like, 'ostinato', 'canon', 'minor scales', 'major scales'....at this rate I'll be talkin' in scales all day long! I gotta get outta here!!!*  
  
Tifa took it from Yuffie, Aerith noticed, as she glanced from the paper to a somewhat-suspicious Instructor Trepe.  
  
~Wow, like, everyone's had this paper! Hiya, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, and...um....Barret?~  
  
From there Cloud took it, read over it, and smiled slightly.  
  
\You people are gonna get caught. Instructor Trepe's already watching you. She's been suspicious since Yuffie./  
  
"Yuffie?" Instructor Trepe finally said.  
  
"Key of F-sharp Minor!" Yuffie blurted out.  
  
"I see very few of you are paying attention," she sighed. "What will it take to prove to you I need your undivided attention? Strife, who's note is that?"  
  
Aerith glanced to the back of the classroom where Cloud was sitting, wondering what he'd say.  
  
"Mine, Instructor," he said, glancing up. "I wrote Tifa but she told me that I needed to be payin' attention. Sorry about that."   
  
"Don't let it happen again," Instructor Trepe sighed. "Anyways, as I was saying..."  
  
The note was silently passed back up to Aerith, who slid it in the back of her notebook and actually started paying attention to the class.  
  
~//~  
  
Cloud plopped down at a vacant table in the school's student center, glaring at the tray in front of him. He debated actually attempting to see if it was real or   
  
simply going to the game room that he'd seen on his way to the cafeteria. But the game room was always crowded during lunch...if he wanted to check that out he'd  
  
be best off to wait until dinner. With that thought in mind, he pulled out his portable CD player.  
  
"Now where's that CD Sephiroth told me to listen to," he mumbled, thumbing through his bag.  
  
"Um, hi, Cloud," came Aerith's voice. "Thanks for covering for us today."  
  
"No prob," Cloud shrugged, smiling.   
  
"I hate to bother you, but can I sit here?"  
  
"Sure," he answered, shoving a pile of stuff Sephiroth had left while he went to get his lunch aside.   
  
"Thanks," she said, almost sounding relieved. He noticed she kept glancing around the cafeteria as if expecting someone to jump out and attack her.  
  
"Something wrong, Aerith?"  
  
"It's Hojo," Aerith sighed. "I guess it's nothing major. Maybe I'm just worrying about nothing..."  
  
"With Hojo it probably -is- a big deal," Cloud scowled.   
  
"He's been bothering me all three of the years I've been coming. I'm glad this is his last year, honestly," she blushed.  
  
"I'm glad too and I've only been coming for two years," frowned Cloud. "What's he been doing to you?"  
  
"Poking me with his pencil or drumstick, whatever's closest, and saying stupid things," Aerith rolled her eyes. "With anyone else, it wouldn't be such a big deal. But,  
  
I mean, it's Hojo...."  
  
"I know. I think he creeps everyone out," Cloud nodded. He paused, hearing something. He glanced around and finally smiled slightly. "Well, speaking of the  
  
devil himself."  
  
  
  
Aerith looked up too. Hojo was bothering Yuffie, but the young ninja obviously wasn't going to take the matter sitting down. In fact, from the looks of it, she   
  
had two weapons on her, a music theory book and a 'Music Theory is Fun' frisbee, both of which she was using to their full potential. After chasing Joho off, she walked   
  
over to the table where Cloud and Aerith were sitting and shoved Sephiroth's stuff aside.   
  
"Stupid Hojo-freak. If I woulda known someone like him woulda been here, I might have come here better equipped!" she growled. "Man, all you people are -so- lucky!  
  
Up in Wutai, it's hard to come by materia," she said, eyeing Cloud and Aerith's materia.  
  
"Don't get any thoughts," Cloud frowned.  
  
"Mine's useless," Aerith smiled cheerfully.  
  
"-Useless- materia?" Sephiroth walked up, lifting an eyebrow in interest as he shoved Yuffie's stuff across the table and removed her from his seat. Pouting, Yuffie took  
  
a seat across the table in a different chair.  
  
"Sephiroth's right," Cloud pointed out. "Maybe you just don't know how to use it."  
  
"Nope," Aerith grinned. "Mine's good for absolutely nothing."  
  
"Then why do you even still have it?" Yuffie asked.   
  
"It was my mother's, and I like just having it," Aerith was explaining, but paused as Nanaki walked up.  
  
"If that Hojo bothers me one more time..." Nanaki growled.  
  
"Oooooh!" Yuffie cheered happily. "Let ME at him! I've been looking for an excuse for the last six minutes now!" She grinned, jumping up and holding up a variety of   
  
'weapons' which included a frisbee and a fold-out fan.  
  
"I've learned more musical terms then I'll ever need to know or ever will see, -EVER-, today," Yuffie frowned darkly. "I'm ready for some kick-butt action."  
  
~//~  
  
A/N: So it's like, late here now and I probably had a lot of typos...I looked over it the best I could, if you see any point them out and I'll correct them next update,  
  
thanks for reading, and if you have any funny stories e-mail 'em to me or let me know about 'em somehow...thanks much!  
  
~xiffie~ 


	3. Chapter III: Squaresoft Overture

Chapter Three: Squaresoft Overture

A/N: See? All the characters in here belong to Squaresoft.  Yay Squaresoft!  ANYWAYS, right now I want to thank Kent Bogar and Ninja Girl Emi for not only giving me a nice laugh when I read your stories =) but for submitting them!  I wasn't able to get them all in this chapter but I'll try to find a way to get as many of them in as possible in upcoming chapters.  =)  The whole thing about the director hiring people to get people to leave and such (you'll see what I mean in a minute) was Kent Bogar's story, thanks much to him, now everyone read his stories! ;)  Any other people with stories, go ahead and submit them if you want to…like I said, I do credit you…and thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far. =)  Also, Squaresoft is now Square Enix.  I know that.  But I'm almost certain they were still Squaresoft when they created the people I borrowed from them.  So I'm gonna refer to them as Squaresoft.  Also, our 'local' (well, thirty minutes away, but that's local considering I live in the middle of nowhere) mall also got a Dance Dance Revolution machine! *cheers*  I'm writing this chapter in honor of DDR, everybody go buy the game.  =)  Allrighty, that's all I have to say for now.  Thanks again!  ~Xifa~

                        ~//~

"Listen up!" Commander Leonhart's voice rang throughout the auditorium.

     The majority of the band looked up.  Not many people dared cross the commander's path, and those who did…well, they were just brave.  That or really stupid.

     However, as anyone in band would know, there's always a certain section that's always getting yelled at.  There's just that group of people, united by two common traits.  One, they all play the same instrument, and two; they refuse to listen to a word the director's saying.

     In this case, it was the trombones.  Personally, Sephiroth thought they shouldn't have even been allowed into band camp if they weren't going to listen to a word the director said.  But what could he have to complain about?  He was just thankful that the concert order that Commander Leonhart had placed them in didn't involve him sitting next to them.

"You four," the commander said in an exasperated voice, pointing to Sephiroth, Cloud, Yuffie, and Barret.  "Get up here."

     The four, naturally, obliged.  Even they didn't want to get on the director's bad side.

"Between you four and me, I have a job for you to do.  I want you to talk as many of those people as you can into going home.  I don't care what it takes, get them to leave."

"Alright," they nodded in unison, going back to their seats.

     Cloud watched as Commander Leonhart called one more person up there.  It was none other than Choco Billy himself, who lived on a Chocobo Ranch that Cloud had heard about a few times.  Commander Leonhart signaled something to Choco Billy, who held up what looked to Cloud like a chocobo whistle.  ((The Chocokid has one in FF8, if you don't know what I'm talking about)).  He played one loud, really high-pitched note, and sat down.

     Well, even if it was deafening, at least it got the trombones to shut up.

"Now that you lazy excuses for musicians are ready," Commander Leonhart frowned, "We can get to work.  Take out your first piece of music.  It should be titled the 'Squaresoft Overture'.  Now for some reason, the oboe part didn't come in for this so it'll just have to read the flute part.  Flutes, I gave you an extra copy of this song just in case, so—"

"—Um, actually, you didn't," interrupted a flutist.

     Aerith glanced to Vincent, who shrugged.

"I had it yesterday," she said quietly to him, not wanting to make the commander mad.

"As did I," Vincent nodded.

"Alright, I know I passed it out," Commander Leonhart frowned.  "And if I don't hear someone confess to taking it I'll—"

"—I found it!" Yuffie suddenly exclaimed, thrusting a stack of music at Commander Leonhart.

     Cloud turned around and looked at Cid, who was sitting at the drumset.

"Did she steal all those?" Cloud asked him.

     The ninja, who apparently heard, turned around and smiled, unable to hide her pride.

"YUFFIE!" the commander yelled, grabbing Yuffie and dragging her off.

                   ~//~

     They all sat around a table at dinner, unusually silent.

"You think she's still alive?" Tifa asked, finally breaking the silence.

     Judging by Tifa's attitude yesterday and a bit earlier, Cloud wouldn't have expected her to break the silence.  But apparently Tifa was getting over her initial nervousness and settling back into her normal personality.  He was glad.  Much as Tifa was his friend, her strange, jumpy attitude was rather strange, if not simply annoying.

"Who, Yuffie?" spoke up the quiet Vincent, whom Aerith had invited to sit with them.

"Mm-hmm," Tifa nodded.

"I don't think Commander Leonhart would actually kill her," Aerith said, but judging by her tone of voice, even Aerith had her doubts.

"She shouldn't have stolen all of the flutes' music," Barret shrugged, "She got herself into that one."

"True," Sephiroth agreed.

"Well, I'll see you all after dinner.  Let me know if you hear from Yuffie," Aerith stood up, preparing to leave.

"Hey, wait," Tifa called.  "What's our after-dinner activity tonight?"

"Tonight?" Aerith echoed.  "Um, there's a Triple Triad/Tetra Master tournament tonight, TBA for tomorrow, a Blitzball match after that, another TBA, and then the concert," Aerith rattled off.

"Okay," Tifa beamed.  "Thanks, Aerith."  
"Anytime," Aerith smiled, walking off.

"I think I'll go too," Cloud stood up about a minute later.

     Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and gave Cloud a 'look'.

"I'm checking out the game room," Cloud scowled.

"Sure?" Sephiroth smiled evilly.

"Whatever," Cloud frowned.

"Well, in any case, I'll see you there after I finish my…" Sephiroth trailed off, looking down at the cafeteria food that they served the band camp students.

"Cheeseburger?" Tifa questioned, looking at it.

     Cloud rolled his eyes and walked to the game room.  To be located in a college student center, they'd worked on the decorations quite well.  The entire room was dark, save for the little glowing stars on the ceiling and of course the light from the videogames and the hallway outside.  Of course, there were your typical games located within; air hockey, racing, skee-ball, fighting, shooting, skating, crane…but in the middle, characterized by it's flashing lights, catchy music, and annoying announcer, was a Dance Dance Revolution Extreme game.

     A grin crossed Cloud's face as memories of himself and Sephiroth learning how to play DDR ran through his mind.  He wasn't exactly cocky about his skill, but was confident.

     Aerith stood on one side of the two-player game, feeding the machine her spare change.

"Mind if I join you?" Cloud asked.

     Aerith smiled.

"Go right ahead," she stepped aside and let him pay his part.  He noticed she had set her skill level on one level shy of expert.  The same level he and Sephiroth used to play on, but then again, when was the last time he and Sephiroth had played?  He set his skill level to match hers.

"You want to pick out the song?" she asked him.

"I don't care," he shrugged.  "You pick first."

     She scrolled through until she found the one that sounded the fastest, and hit it.  After making it through the song, he realized Aerith had obviously played before.  Two songs after that he deducted she could beat Sephiroth if she went against him.  One song left.

     Speaking of Sephiroth, he entered at that moment.

"Hmm…might I choose the song?" he questioned.

     Cloud glanced to Aerith, praying she'd say no.

"Sure," she answered.  Sephiroth scanned through the songs until he found the one he was looking for.

"Uh oh," Cloud thought to himself.

     With a semi-evil grin, Sephiroth selected a song called 'La Senorita Virtual', which is quite possibly the hardest freaking song on that entire game.  ((I can't pass it even on basic, even after a couple MONTHS of doing that song over and over again.  Set on basic and little, I can get a C.  Yay me.))  On basic it was next to impossible.  But Cloud and Aerith had set their skill level one under basic. 

"Good luck," Sephiroth beamed, looking at them and taking a step back to watch.  "If you even make it through without failing…well, good luck."

     Cloud glanced over at Aerith.  She'd already slipped off the jacket she'd been wearing it and thrown it across the rail behind the game.

"Let's show him," she smiled at Cloud as the song began.

     To Sephiroth, the song ended too fast.  Watching Cloud hop around on a dance game trying to step on arrows as they flew across the screen had always been a sight worth seeing.  To Cloud and Aerith, who were forced to try and correctly dance the entire song, it didn't end fast enough.

     The scores popped up on the screen.  Aerith had the highest numerical score, and scored the same letter as Cloud.  C.

"That's a workout," Aerith smiled breathlessly, hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.

"You did good," Cloud nodded.

"You did too," Aerith replied.  "We passed!  I didn't know it was possible."

"Neither did I," Cloud muttered, glaring at Sephiroth.

"The card tournament's starting," Sephiroth interrupted, still smiling.  "We might want to leave."

"Let's mosey," Cloud shrugged.

                        ~//~

A/N: Wrote that chapter late and started hurrying through it.  You can probably tell where.  Sorry if it wasn't so great ^^  And seriously, who thinks they should make a Final Fantasy DDR?  I think it'd be great!  Knowing my luck some of you people prolly haven't played DDR and think I'm some sort of crazy psycho.  ^^;  Oh well.  Life shall go on, and I'll see what I can do about working everyone's ideas into a nice little section called 'Chapter Four'.  Thanks to my reviewers and those who submitted and everyone who's reading.  Until next time, ~Xifa~


	4. Chapter IV: Zidane and Fujin Exchange La...

A/n: Well, I decided to update finally =)

            I was looking over what I have so far, and I've come to a conclusion.  I started writing this fanfic for fun.  Because I'm a perfectionist and I wanted to write a story without trying so hard.  And I'm looking over 

this and y'know what?  I think I'm trying to hard.  So I'm gonna take a break and put in a nice silly chapter before 

going back to work  =)  If you hate it, well, sorry.  Remember that Zidane and Fujin were the counselors, if you're

wondering why they're starring in this chapter.  Let's see how crazy this is going to get...

   Without further ado...

Chapter Four: Zidane and Fujin Exchange Lame Band Jokes

            It was a bright sunny day outside the next day.  Light, puffy clouds floated over the sky, and the sun beamed warmly down.

The sky was a beautiful shade of blue, and the weather was perfect.  A gentle breeze blew.  It was one of those days that you just

want to stay outside forever in.

"Thank the stars for music theory classes that we don't have to take!"  Zidane exclaimed happily.  "Y'know what I mean, Fujin?"

            Fujin, as was characteristic of her, glared at him.

"Um...yeah..."  Zidane trailed off.  _Different approach, _he thought to himself.  "So, I used to play trumpet when I was in band."

            Fujin glanced at him, but said nothing.

"What was your instrument?"  he tried asking.

"...SAXAPHONE."

            _So she can talk..._

"That's awesome!"

            Fujin glared at him again, still saying nothing.

            _Let's try something else..._Zidane thought.

"I know a bunch of great band jokes," Zidane nodded enthusiastically.  "So...how do you know when a drummer is knocking at your door?"

            Fujin didn't reply.

"The knock always speeds up!" Zidane answered cheerfully.  "Okay, next one...what's the range of a piccolo?"

            Again, no response.

"Twenty yards on a good day," Zidane beamed.  "What's the--"

"You know," Fujin scowled, "I was in this band camp back when that crazy moogle was the director.  I know every lame band joke there is."

"No you don't!  You can't," Zidane grinned.  _Heh__, now I'm getting somewhere...  _"I'll think of some you don't know."

"Try."

"Why is the French horn a divine instrument?" Zidane asked.

"Because when man blows it, God only knows what comes out," Fujin answered.

"Um...why do drummers have trouble entering a room?"

"Because they never know when to come in," Fujin replied listlessly.  "Got any better ones?"

            Zidane frowned.  _You're asking for it..._

"What do you call someone who hangs out with musicians?"

"A drummer.  Try again, Zidane."

"Ugh...what's the best way to confuse a drummer?"

"Put sheet music in front of him," she replied off-handedly, staring at the sky.

"How can you make a trombone sound like a french horn?"

"Stick your hand in the bell and play a lot of wrong notes."

"How do you get two oboes to play in unison?"

"Shoot one," Fujin shook her head.  "That's the oldest one in the book!"

            _Ugh...she said she played sax...I'm startin' in on the saxophone jokes now..._

"What's the difference between a saxophone and a lawnmower?"

"The neighbors get upset when you borrow a lawnmower and don't return it."

"How many alto saxophone players does it take to change---"

"--Zidane, I know all the saxophone ones.  Try something else, you're boring me."

            _Boring you?!_

"How many drummers does it take to change a light bulb?"

"Why?  Oh, wow!  Is it like dark, man?"  Fujin shook her head.  "Zidane, you're hopeless!"  An evil smile crossed 

her face.  "Let's turn it around here.  How many trumpet players does it take to change a light bulb?"

"Um..."

"None, because the world revolves around them."  Fujin answered, quickly firing another one at him.  "How do trumpet

players traditionally greet each other?"

"Um..."

"Hi, I'm better than you.  What do trumpets use for birth control?"

"Um..."

"Their personalities," Fujin laughed as Zidane frowned.  "Sorry, had to say that one.  What did little Johnny's mother

say when Johnny said he wanted to be a trumpet player when he grew up?"

"Um..."

"But Johnny, you can't do both!  How do you improve the aerodynamics of a trumpeter's car?"

"Um..."

"Take the Domino's Pizza sign off the roof!  What do you call a trumpet player without a brain?"

"I--"

"Gifted."

"Ugh, that's it!"  Zidane jumped up.  "I'm going to go get on the internet and find a bunch of band jokes you don't know."

            He turned to storm off.

"Band geek," Fujin muttered under her breath.

"WHAT?!"

"Nothing, nothing," Fujin smiled off-handedly.  "Go find your little jokes.  Have at it."

"I'll get you next round."

"Try your hardest," Fujin waved as he walked off.

                                                                                                ~//~

A/n:  That's the worst chapter fo anything I've ever written, guys...um if you search band jokes on Google, the first two sites are the ones I 

credit for teaching me more lame band jokes.  Sorry for wasting your time reading this...hope it wasn't too horrible...more real stuff next update =)

   Luv ya all who've been reading!!!

~xifa~    


	5. Chapter V: Commander Leonhart Kills the ...

A/N: Love and peace to all who've stuck with me this far!  I've suffered extreme writers' block with pretty much all of my solo projects but the other night I sat down and wrote two chapters to this and started on a third!  Hope you all continue reading this and I'm still looking for your suggestions and ideas! ~Xifa

Chapter V: Commander Leonhart Kills the Bandies

            They hadn't even made it to dinner, although that's where they should have been.  In fact, they hadn't really left the band room.  They lounged around the front yard of building 9A, the building in which the band room was located.  The park benches and most of the ground were littered with band campers, and had been utterly silent for about an hour with only the occasional 'Hojo, don't poke me with that drumstick' or 'Rufus, quit snoring' to break the silence.  After an hour spent recovering on the front yard, however, the bandies were beginning to recover.

"Yuffie, are you okay?" Shera asked from her seat on the edge of the park bench next to Cid.

            Yuffie had laid sprawled out across the warm, summer's green grass in complete silence, a shock to everyone.  Her oboe case was serving a job it wasn't used to but did quite well at—a pillow to the exhausted girl.

"He hates me more than all of you put together," Yuffie moaned.  "I had to do more push-ups than any of the other guys who didn't know their scales!  And all because of that stupid music incident!  I was gonna sell it back to those flutists!"

            Sephiroth stared down at her with a merciless gaze.  He was the only one of the campers who wasn't exhausted.  He'd known all of his scales, but when he was unable to tell Commander Leonhart how many measures were in the song 'Ecstatic Dance of the Chocobo in Chocobo Paradise' then the commander had forced him to do push-ups.  Then sit-ups.  Then run laps.  Sephiroth had been the only camper that the commander hadn't been able to exhaust, so while the rest of the campers were in the front yard feeling like they were going to die, Sephiroth had merely been enjoying the afternoon breeze.

"I can't believe that," Tifa shook her head.  "Just because some of the campers didn't know every single one of their scales doesn't give him any right to force us to do push-ups until we answered all of his stupid questions right."

            Barret and Cid put in their very colorful opinion. 

"You know, Cid, it wasn't that bad…" Sephiroth smiled.

            Cid glared up at Sephiroth and gave him another one of this trademark colorful opinions.  Sephiroth merely smiled.  

"They'll be serving dinner soon and it looks like some of the other students are leaving," Sephiroth commented.  "Perhaps we should get moving too."

"Let's mosey," Cloud shrugged, standing up.  Cid stood as well, mumbling something under his breath.

"What is it _this_ time, Cid?" Shera asked.

"'Let's mosey'," Cid mocked Cloud.  "Couldn't he be a little more normal about it and say something like 'Move out' or 'Let's go'?"

"Move out," Cloud rolled his eyes, shrugging.  Aerith couldn't help but smile.  

"Are you coming, Yuffie?" Vincent asked as they all grabbed their instrument cases to leave.

"We're leaving," Sephiroth patiently reminded the young ninja, who hadn't moved a muscle.

"You'll have to carry me, 'cause I'm not goin' anywhere," Yuffie mumbled.

            Sephiroth surprised everyone by actually obliging to the girl's wishes, picking her up in one swift motion, grabbing both his tenor sax and her oboe, and carrying her to the cafeteria area.

                                                            ~//~

"Let's revolt," Yuffie said at dinner.

            The group—Barret, Cid, Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, Shera, Vincent, and Sephiroth this time—all glanced up.  After two chocolate milkshakes and a sandwich, Yuffie was back to her usual self.

"Revolt?" Tifa echoed.

"Against Quistis and her boring theory classes, Zidane and his **_horrible _**band jokes, Fujin and her awful wake-up calls, and Commander Leonhart…Commander Leonhart…."

"Yuffie, we have three days left.  You mean to tell me you're gonna organize the entire band in time?" Shera asked skeptically.

"Dang straight!"  Yuffie jumped up.  "We'll arrange into form into seven groups!"  She pulled out nothing less than Commander Leonhart's seating chart.

"How'd you come across that?!" Cid exclaimed.

"I have my ways," Yuffie shrugged.  "We'll have seven groups, anyways, and you all will be one group.  I'll stick with this group the most.  This'll be group 'All Creation'."

"Why group 'All Creation'?" Sephiroth asked.

"I dunno, but it sounds cool, yeah?" Yuffie smiled.  "We'll have group 'Greased Lightning' who'll be in charge of carrying out the offensive part of our mission…you know, like taping Commander Leonhart's baton to the ceiling or something like that.  They'll be the piccolos, flutes, clarinets, and oboes…"  Yuffie made small marks on the seating charts as she spoke.  "Group 'Clear Tranquil', composed of alto clarinets, soprano saxes, English horns, French horns, and alto saxophones," she continued, "will serve as a distraction so that 'Greased Lightning' can get their job done.  I'd put alto flutes in that category too but Aerith, you're the only one of us in the entire band who plays one."

"I understand, Yuffie," Aerith smiled good-naturedly.

"Group 'Landscaper', the baritone saxophones, bassoons, and bass clarinets will serve as a back-up to 'Clear Tranquil'.  Group 'Gauntlet' will be the percussionists, guitarists, and keyboardists, along with all other mallet instruments.  They can be our defensive group.  We'll have a group of trombones, baritones and tubas to be group 'Bloodfest' and they can do backups for the group 'Doom of the Living', which will be cornets and trumpets."

"That's a good title for them," Shera couldn't help but smile as she commented.

"What'll they do?" Cloud asked.

"They," Yuffie said mysteriously, "will be in charge of…wreaking havoc."

"They'll do a good job at it too," Barret mumbled.

            Sephiroth let out a laugh masked as a sneeze.  Everyone stared at him for a second before looking back to Yuffie.

"It's almost believable," Sephiroth commented.

"Maybe," Tifa mused thoughtfully, "our group can oversee the other groups."

"Great idea!"  Yuffie beamed.  "Aerith, you get Greased Lightning.  Vincent, you get Clear Tranquil.  Sephiroth—Landscaper, Barret—Bloodfest, Cid—Gauntlet, Cloud—Doom of the Living," Cloud made a face as Yuffie announced this, hardly noticible but still there.  "Who's left?  Tifa and Shera?  Tifa, you work with Sephiroth.  Shera can work with Cid.  The rest of you can handle this."

"Are you suggesting I can't handle this alone?!" Cid frowned.

"Whoa, are you getting a little defensive or what?" Yuffie giggled.  "Now sidekicks Tifa and Shera…would you go find Nanaki for me?  He can be my sidekick since he's so smart and all."

"Better not send Shera, she might break something…again…" Cid snickered, since Shera was obviously known for her always-broken bass clarinet.  Shera slapped him which got an 'Ooooh!' out of Yuffie, and walked off with Tifa.

"I'll go left, you go right, meetcha here in fifteen," Shera smiled.

"Okay," Tifa nodded, walking off towards the right.

"Nanaki?  Nanaki?"  She called, looking everywhere but in front of her, which resulted in a collision with a person in front of her, as that action typically does.

"Ugh, and just where exactly are you going?"  Elena, another clarinet player, sneered.  "Oh, it's you," she laughed.  "Hey, Squeaky."

            Tifa frowned and turned slightly red.  It was practically a third octave note!  And she'd only squeaked once playing the entire song!  Elena never squeaked because Elena never played, at all, ever!  She just moved her fingers at the right time!

"Excuse me," Tifa tried to move past her, but Elena moved back in front of her.

"Where are you going?" she frowned.

"What's it to you?!!" Tifa exclaimed, but seeing as how Elena didn't plan on moving, she sighed.  "I'm looking for a friend, okay?"

"A freak, more likely, if they're from your group.  I swear, I can't figure out why Cloud and Sephiroth hand out with you all!  Which one of those idiots are you looking for?  The annoying little thief?  The demonic looking guy?  The girl with the broken bass clarinet or the origami girl that's always fixing it?"

"Elena!" Tifa frowned, suddenly outraged.  "Look at your friends!  I mean, Rude plays the 'Wipeout' solo at any chance he gets, no matter what the song says!  Go away!"

"There's no need to get angry," Elena pouted, storming off.

"Were you calling my name?" Nanaki walked up to Tifa.

"Yeah.  Yuffie wants you," she explained as the two started walking back.  Elena had one that fight…

            But Tifa would get her revenge.

                                                                        ~//~

A/n: Wow, me fingers hurt after typing all that!  Well, what do you think?  Is it okay?  I'm kind of out of practice…haven't typed on this in forever…hopefully the formatting will turn out better now!  If it doesn't, somebody please tell me!  .  Again, love and peace to the one's who've stuck with me and are still reading, and everyone who sent me a band camp story!  (I'm still open to those.  And I am going to use them!  If you send me one or two, I will use at least one of those!  Sometimes it just takes me a bit because I have to wait for the right moment…but I will use them!)  Thanks again everyone! ^-^  ~Xifa  


	6. Chapter VI: The Plan

a/n: Thanks to Ninja Girl Emi for sending the idea about the couches and all…everyone'll understand when they get there…I'll probably credit you in the next chapter too, so, yeah…thanks again =)  Still accepting band stories and taking a poll…should there be a sequel to this or no?  (No matter what you vote, I'm going to write one for my own fun anyway.  Hehe.)  Hope you enjoy the chapter! =)  ~Xifa 

Chapter VI: The Plan

            Tifa, Shera, Aerith, and Yuffie sat in Tifa and Aerith's room, which was actually conjoined to Shera and Yuffie's, which was turning out to be very convenient.

"I need your help," Tifa told them seriously.

"Anything," Aerith smiled.

"As long as you help me with the revolt," Yuffie grinned, naturally unable to help anyone without getting something good out of it herself.

"What can we do for you, Tifa?" Shera questioned.

"Elena—"Tifa started, and then paused.

            Just at the mention of Elena's name, Yuffie gagged, Shera made a face, and Aerith's once bright smile lost some of its luster.

"Gee, what's she done this time?" Shera rolled her eyes.

            So Tifa explained that evening's conversation to the group, who all frowned.

"No problem, Tifa," Shera nodded.  "So whatcha want us to do?"

"I was hoping you'd have an idea," Tifa admitted sheepishly, blushing.

"I do!" Yuffie grinned.  This didn't really surprise anyone.  Know those couches out in the hallway?"

"Yeah…" Shera smiled, already catching on.

"I'm thinking couches + doors = no Elena for us to deal with…" Yuffie rubbed her hands together, smiling deviously.  

"I'm game," Shera said quickly.

"So am I," Tifa grinned.  "Thanks, guys…"

"Well, I wouldn't miss out on a bit of evil action for the entire world," Yuffie snickered.

"I dunno, guys…" Aerith stood up.  "I'll think about it, okay? It's just, I don't even know her, you know?"  Granted, what Elena had done to Tifa was mean, but still…there are just people like that out in the world, and Aerith had no reason to go and get revenge on Elena, really, if you thought about it.  "I'm gonna go talk to Sephiroth or Cid…"

"Okay, talk to you later!" Shera waved as Aerith walked out.

            Aerith sighed and trudged up the stairs to the third floor, where Sephiroth, Cid, and some of the other band campers had their rooms.  However, Sephiroth, nor Cid, nor even Barret were out in the open area, and Aerith had no idea what their room numbers were.  She also didn't have the desire or the will right now to ask around until she found out, not feeling like dealing with idiots like Hojo at the current time.  She glanced around one more time though, and wondered how she'd missed one table by the window, isolated from all the others.  Actually, she wasn't wondering how she'd missed the table…she was really wondering how she'd missed _who_ was sitting at the table.  Cloud was sitting there playing solitaire, but glanced up as soon as he felt her eyes on him.  He waved at her, and she walked over to him.

"Winning?" she asked politely as means of starting a conversation.

"Nah, not really," he said pulling a chair out for her.  She smiled and sat down.  "Whatcha up here for?" he inquired.

"I just needed to get away from Yuffie and all forms of all her evil plans…" she admitted rather sheepishly, blushing, and feeling slightly guilty…she should try and have more patience with Yuffie…

"Nothin' to get about," Cloud shrugged good-naturedly.  "We all have our limits."

            Cloud shuffled the cards, and then set them aside.  A stack of papers with the scales written all over them in Cid's messy handwriting littered the table.

"He was trying to memorize them so Commander Leonhart wouldn't make him run all those laps," Cloud explained.  

            Aerith reached over and picked up one of the small pieces of square paper, folding it into a flower.  She glanced up, and Cloud had just finished folding one into a pinwheel-shruiken type thing.

"We learned how to do this in my Japanese class," he nodded.  "It's all I can do, though."

"I can show you how to make my flowers, if you'd like," Aerith offered.

            So they spend the next two hours talking about everything and exchanging different ways of making origami shruikens and flowers.  By the time it was over, Cid's scales had been folded into tiny flowers and pinwheels of all sizes and Aerith had to get back to the second floor before she got in trouble.

"Thanks for everything," Aerith grinned, holding a few flowers and pinwheels.  Cloud was holding an entire armful.

"Talk to you tomorrow," Cloud smiled as Aerith walked downstairs.

"Wow, Aerith, what an interesting person you are," Elena walked up.  "What a great way to win a man's heart!  Just go up to 'em and say `Hey, let's make flowers`!"

            Aerith said nothing, but just nodded; hoping Elena would get bored with her and leave.

"Can I see a flower?" Elena asked.

            Aerith handed her one that she had made, and Elena dropped it on the ground and stepped on it, smashing what was once a beautiful flower into a mere wad of worthless, dirty paper.  She giggled and walked off.  Aerith returned silently to the room.

"Hey, guys?" She asked as Shera, Yuffie, and Tifa looked up from an intense game of spoons.

"Yeah?" they asked, almost in an eerie perfect unison.

"The plan?  Count me in."

                                                            ~//~

A/n: Again, thanx to Ninja Girl Emi for the idea, Sefie Lynne for loving this story so much =)  and anyone else who ever read this at one time or another…I'm gonna hurry up and finish this while I still have time, hehe…hope you all are enjoying it!

Oh yeah, and for those who don't know, spoons is a card game…I don't feel like explaining it, just IM and ask sometime or something .  Hope you all liked the chapter and keep reading!  Love and peace, ~Xifa~


	7. Chapter VII: Clarinet Wars

a/n: If I haven't mentioned already, the following idea was submitted by Ninja Girl Emi.  Go read her stories…um, after you read this one ^-^  Just kidding, just kidding…

Chapter VII: Clarinet Wars

            It was dark on the second floor that night as Tifa, Aerith, Shera, and Yuffie all began to carry out 'The Plan'.  Yuffie and Shera were keeping watch.  Shera was stationed by the stairs, and Yuffie was standing right outside Fujin's door.  Aerith and Tifa were working on actually working on moving the massive couch.

            They new this idea would work—Elena had paid extra for her own isolated room.  Since Elena's room wasn't connected to anyone's, nor did she have a roommate, she'd have no one to help her get the couch out from in front of her door.  The girls knew she couldn't pull it off alone—because even moving the gargantuan couch was proving harder than it had looked.  The girls were getting frustrated.  Time was of the utmost importance.

            Two shadowy figures descended the stairs.  Shera frantically gave Tifa and Aerith the signal, but it was too late.  

                        They were caught.

            A relieved smile came across Aerith's face—she was the first to notice just who these two shadowy figures were.  They were both too tall to be Zidane or Fujin, Tifa noticed too, smiling as well.  Shera and Yuffie grinned too, feeling rather silly at not realizing who the two were.  Pale moonlight spilled into the room through an open window, and there was no disguising the tall, spiky-haired boy and his even taller white-haired friend.

            They said nothing, but instead helped the girls lift the couch and gently deposit it in front of Elena's door.

            Then, in unspoken agreement to see what the other group was up to, they descended the stairs that lead out the door.  Shera signaled to them as if to say "I'll stay up here and keep watch."

            They didn't say anything until they were a good distance away from the dorms.

"Explain yourself," Tifa grinned.

"Cloud saw what Elena did to Aerith's flower, and then heard what he said to you, and the two of us decided to get revenge.  Cid came up with the plan and he's upstairs keeping watch out for us while Barret guards Zidane's door," Sephiroth explained.  Tifa couldn't help but smile—it sounded just like their plan.   "And what exactly were you two doing?"

"About the same," Tifa smiled.  "Only Yuffie came up with our plan."

"You thought this up?" Sephiroth gave Yuffie what could only be described as a look of approval.  "This revolt might not turn out so bad after all."

            Yuffie couldn't think of anything intelligent to say, trying her hardest not to fall asleep.

"I kinda like her better that way," Tifa joked, and Cloud smiled.

"Quiet," he added on, and Tifa nodded.

            The small group sat in peaceful silence for a few moments before Yuffie broke it by muttering something unintelligible.  She'd leaned against Sephiroth hand now she was talking in her sleep.

"Why is it always me?" Sephiroth rolled his eyes.

            A rustle in the bushes distracted them from Yuffie, though.  Tifa tensed and Cloud stood up.  The bush rattled again, and then the figure in it stepped out.

            Vincent, of all people, stood there, an embarrassed look on his face.

"That's it, I don't want to know," Sephiroth stood up, and Yuffie fell to the ground.  She blinked, confused, then asked a question that no one could really understand since all of her words were running together.

            Sephiroth helped her up, put his hands on her shoulders, and steered her back towards the building, mumbling something to himself.  Tifa and Aerith couldn't help but smile.

"What are you doing here, Vincent?"  Tifa finally asked.

"Late night chocolate cravings," Vincent admitted sheepishly.  He held out a handful of candy bards.  "Kudos, anyone?"

                                                            ~//~

A/n: Thanks to everyone who reviewed!! *beams* Sometimes these are my only inspirations to keep going!  (*The-Author2—Did you all seriously do that? o.O I laughed so hard!  I could just see it happening!  *Name—I have a lot of trouble getting Barret's character down so there's not a lot of him…and gee, I don't know why there's more Vincent…but I like Vincent so I must put more of him in!  …let's see, where can I shove Vincent into this at…)

Only two more days of band camp left.  Wow.  And to think last night I sat down and almost finished this…don't worry, it's almost over.  *smiles*

            And for the record, I don't own Kudos.  One of them came with my sack lunch that I bought at school today, but I ate it.  So I guess I don't own kudos.  Love and peace, ~xiffie~


	8. Chapter VIII: Commander Leonhart Attempt...

a/n:  Thanks to The-Author2 for the woodblock idea type thingy deal…like some of the other ideas it'll end up spanning across a few chapters so yeah…*gives The-Author2 all of Vincent's kudos bars*  Everyone go read The-Author2's stories!!!! Yah!!!

Vincent: *in a dangerous voice* GIVE…ME…MY…KUDOS!!!!

*Vincent turns into chaos and kills everything*

Vincent: By the way, the author doesn't own anything.  If she did, she'd be doing much better things then writing fanfics, like making a Final Fantasy DDR game!  She also doesn't own 'Wipeout'.  Or Kudos.  *steals kudos back*

…o.O  ANYWAYS….

Chapter VIII: Commander Leonhart Attempts to Drive the Bandies Insane

"Can't any of you lazy excuses for musicians count time?!" Commander Leonhart demanded, waving his arms angrily.  Yuffie, who was sitting in the front row, was right now suffering from this extreme fear of that baton flying right out of his hands and into her eyeball.  She couldn't help but squinch her eyes closed every time he waved his hands.  "Hojo!" Commander Leonhart yelled, pointing his baton at Joho.  "Quit poking Shera with that drumstick and give it to me!"

            Hojo did so, and Shera looked relieved.  Cid kind of looked happier too and wasn't sending death glares over to Hojo while muttering profanities too colorful to mention in anything rated under PG-13 anymore for some unexplained reason…

"You," the commander pointed at Rude.  Rude looked up confused, recognizing his name.  From where Barret sat with the rest of the tubas, he was surprised Rude had even heard his name.  Most of the people in the back row by the percussion couldn't hear anything over Rude pounding out the 'Wipeout' solo on a woodblock.  Yesterday he had been pounding it out on a cowbell, but Choco Billy had thrown his chocobo whistle at Rude and Rude had finally stopped.  To get back to the story, Rude looked up at the Commander after hearing his name being called.  "Give me that," the commander demanded, pointing at the woodblock.

            Everyone looked to Rude with pleading eyes.  They all remembered earlier that week…they didn't' count time to the 'Squaresoft Overture' right so Commander Leonhart stole the woodblock and pounded it like a metronome until the band campers thought they would go deaf.

            Rude, however, was clearly blind to the silent please of his fellow comrades, and handed the commander the woodblock.  Any glimmers of hope that had once shone in the band campers' eyes were extinguished.  All hope was lost, and band camp was about to fall to insanity.

"Here ya go, Commander Leonhart," he beamed, the only band camper stupid enough not to remember what had happened earlier that week with the woodblock and all.  He walked back to his place with the percussionists, oblivious of the glares from the other campers.

"Let's try this again," Commander Leonhart frowned, pounding loudly on the woodblock.

            Now that the baton was out of Commander Leonhart's hands, Yuffie's fear disappeared and she was free to glare at him.  Yes, she thought with a frown, she was in for a long band session.

            However, she found the pounding of the woodblock inspiring, even though she felt like screaming out of insanity.  But that woodblock…that woodblock that Commander Leonhart never let leave his sight…

            Yuffie had a plan.

                                                ~//~

a/n: *resurrected by Aerith's Life material…Aerith is in this story a lot so she'll protect me from Vincent and Chaos*   You know, it seems to me like my titles are almost as long as my entries anymore…but that's okay!   I like short chapters because I can stay on focus easier and I like long titles because…um…why must I have a reason?!   

   *coughcoughcough*

    Hope you all stick around for another chapter!  And look, I even managed to mention Barret in that one!  *apologizes to all the Barret fans…*  Love and peace, ~xifa~


	9. Chapter IX: A Mission for Doom of the Li...

a/n: Barret has a speaking part in this chapter ^-^  and I still don't own anything…

It's Thursday now in the story, if you were interested, and band camp ends on Friday.  Now you know if you were lost.

Also to those who don't play cards as frequently as I do—rummy and spoons are card games.  If you haven't played them you must learn.  Excellent ways to waste your time UNLESS YOUR MATH TEACHER WON'T LET YOU PLAY CARDS AFTER YOU FINISH YOUR HOMEWORK!  But there's ways around that.  It's harder to notice two people playing 21 because it's such a quiet game *evil smiles*  Wait, what am I doing?!  This is a Final Fantasy story, not an explanation of card games and how they relate to my life!  *ducks a bunch of omnislashes and continues with the story*

Chapter IX: A Mission for Doom of the Living

"I just gave the trumpets their part of the mission!" Yuffie plopped down between Vincent and Barret at a picnic table just outside the dorms where Aerith, Cloud, Barret, Cid, Shera, Tifa, Vincent, and Sephiroth were sitting playing an intense game of rummy with the collector's edition material playing cards Yuffie had let them use.  They wanted to play spoons, and had sent Yuffie to find some.  She'd taken forever, having stopped to explain to the group Doom of the Living that they would need to wreak havoc tomorrow during band so that the other groups could do their jobs.

"What are their jobs?" Sephiroth asked, amused.  "Rummy," he added on, offhandedly, grabbing the card that Cid had discarded.  Naturally, Cid had a colorful opinion on the entire matter that would take way too long to censor out and therefore has just been left out.  He always did.

"Well, the band's mission tomorrow is to get Commander Leonhart's stick thingy—"

"Baton," Vincent corrected her off-handedly.

"—Taped to the ceiling," Yuffie continued, pretending that she just wasn't interrupted at all.  She also didn't mention that she'd formulated this plan because she was afraid of the stick blinding her.  "This mission will involve everyone but the anti's—"  
"Anti-s?" Shera questioned.

"People like Elena, Reno, and Rude…" Yuffie explained, then continued, "everyone but the anti's, Cid, and me."

"And why not you two?" Tifa asked, drawing a card, making a face, and discarding it.

"Rummy!"  Barret called.

"Is not," Tifa glanced down at it.

"Oh.  Sorry, Tif'."

"Stupid," Cid muttered.  Barret hit him.  Cid slapped back, and Yuffie interrupted before the fight could go on any farther.  

"Cid and I…we've got our own plan," Yuffie grinned deviously.  Shera noticed that an evil grin from Cid had appeared at the mention of this plan as well.  "Just wait and see…"

            With that, Yuffie laid the sporks she'd come up with on the picnic table.  (She couldn't find any spoons.)  She smiled a smile that clearly said 'Spork you all! I'm gonna win!'

            So the group engaged in a violent game of spoons, or at least sporks in this case.

                                                                                                ~//~

a/n: You know, I can't remember anything about Elena, Reno, or Rude from the actual game…I played FF7 last night and I was gonna go looking for them, but my game was too slow.  Probably oughta clean it.  Sorry for such a short chapter…I did all of these last night so they just got kind of short…but that's okay, right?  Is that okay with everyone?  *casts reflect on herself*  Um, read and review, maybe, please?  Love and peace to everyone who's read this and isn't going, 'She's such a forkin' moron!!'   ~~xiffie~~


	10. Chapter X: Zidane and Fujin Exchange Mor...

a/n: So what if I have compulsive drives to suddenly do something stupid?!  Just skip this chapter if you don't like it…I just wanted a break from all the band campers .  Not to mention I was on a message board the other day and we were discussing horrible band jokes!  So I had to put these on here!

Shame I can't remember what forum I was at…

Chapter X: Zidane and Fujin Exchange More Lame Band Jokes

            Zidane had walked over to Fujin earlier that day while the band campers were trying to sleep through Quistis's musical theory class.  There was a smug look on his face as he plopped down across from her.

"I," he said with a proud smile, "know a bunch of band jokes that I bet you don't know."

            Fujin lifted an eyebrow as if to say "Sorry you lousy excuse for a Final Fantasy main character, I'm just not interested"

"What is a gentleman?" Zidane grinned.

"Someone who knows how to play trumpet, but doesn't," Fujin frowned.  "Or a band camp counselor who knows a bunch of stupid band jokes, but doesn't tell them." 

            Zidane ignored the last comment.  

"What's the different between trumpet players and government bonds?"

"Trumpet players eventually mature and earn money," Fujin answered, wishing that she was back at Balamb wasting her summer fishing with Raijin and Seifer.  Together, they had more brains than this guy did, and intelligent conversations were sounding like heaven right now.

"What's the difference between a French horn section and a '57 Chevy?" Zidane asked, and Fujin couldn't help but wonder if he'd already told some of these before…

"You can tune the Chevy," Fujin mumbled.  At least when Raijin and Seifer got annoying they would occupy each other and she wouldn't have to talk to them…curse this stupid boy…why had she signed up to be a counselor anyway?!  Next year she was gonna sign up for Commander Leonhart's job!  

"Why did the chicken cross the road?" Zidane asked.

            Fujin looked up at Zidane, who was actually smiling.  Smiling!  Smiling like he honestly believed he was funny!

"To get away from the annoying band camp counselor who wouldn't shut up!" Fujin shrieked, taking her lovely little weapon that you should be able to buy at Wal-Mart and chucking it at his head.  Zidane did not see this coming, and fell to the ground, twitching.

            Fujin hadn't felt this good since she'd shoved Raijin off the docks at Balamb.

                                                                                                ~//~

a/n: *dodges a bunch of grand lethals*  I HATE ZIDANE!!!!! *kicks at the twitching Zidane*

         Okay the next chapter is actually kind of long, or at least longer than the last few, and I actually, you know, put some thought into it!  I promise it won't be as worthless as this one!  Please don't desert me just yet!!  


	11. Chapter XI: Another Interesting Musical ...

Chapter XI:  Another Interesting "Musical Experience"

            It was at dinner that night that Aerith found the flyer.  At first, she couldn't believe it, and yet there it was…so clear…so obvious…

"What are you looking at?" Cloud walked up behind her and peered over her shoulder.  "Live concert, free tickets, tonight at nine…some kind of annual free moonlit summer concert they do?" Cloud read, interested.  "Who's performing?"

"Spitalfield," Aerith read, and was surprised when she found out that Cloud had actually heard of them.

"I'm not that genre of music's biggest fan," Cloud shrugged.  He was more into Dream Theater and Jet*, but he'd still heard of Spitalfield.  "I kinda like 'em."

"Wow…most people I know haven't even heard of them!" Aerith smiled happily.

"Well, if the band's good, why pass up a free concert?" Cloud smiled, shrugging.

"Because we're not allowed to go," Aerith said simply, kind of disappointed.

            Cloud glanced over to her.

"Are you gonna let that stop you?"

                                                            ~//~

            Escape wasn't looking easy for Aerith.  Zidane and Fujin sat at the only ground floor exit, exchanging lame band jokes, probably for the final time.  There would be no sneaking past them.  She'd went upstairs to find Cloud, but he wasn't there.  Now she stood at her window, searching for a way to climb down.

"Just jump," came a barely audible, yet encouraging voice.  Cloud stood there, waiting for her.

"I don't like heights…" Aerith tried to protest.  Despite the fact she was only on the second floor, the building was kind of strange and the window was a bit high.

"Don't you trust me?" Cloud smiled.

                                                            ~//~

            About ten minutes later they stood at the edges of the crowd.

"I can't see, how about you?" Cloud asked.

"Not early," Aerith shook her head, but didn't see much to do about the situation.

"Well, I didn't sneak out not to se the show," Cloud smiled, reaching out towards her.  She linked her arm through his and the two made their way to the front of the crowd.

"Ahem," a sharp voice said.

            Commander Leonhart stood there, a sinister smile playing across his face. 

                                                            ~//~

a/n: *because he wanted a main part in this chapter and had to agree with the author ^-^

            I felt like I was really out of character on that chapter…and I was worried about it, but then I reminded myself that they're younger in this 'fic then they were in the actual game, and this is a humor fanfic and if people are gonna get mad because Cloud and Sephiroth are really out of character then I'm just not gonna care or whatever…now I'm not so worried ^-^

            That was supposed to be longer!  O.o  These things are forever long in my notebook!  I think my computer is eating sentences!  *cries and feels all unloved*

            I don't own Spitalfield.  I don't even have their CD.  I just heard their song on the TV radio thing and liked them, even though all the information listed for them was wrong .  I also don't own Jet, Dream Theater, of Final Fantasy 7.  But I do have CDs for them!  I even have three CDs for Final Fantasy VII!  *feels proud, then remembers that everyone who bought final fantasy vii from a store probably has three cds*  Hope you enjoyed it! Love and peace, ~xiffie~


	12. Chapter XII: Aerith and Cloud Meet Their...

a/n: If you think this chapter is short, wait till you see the next one!!!

Chapter XII: Aerith and Cloud Meet Their Doom (and boy is it scary!)

            Commander Leonhart was more than happy to drag the two back to Fujin and Zidane and let them deal with the two.  (He was, after all, on a date with another conductor from a different camp who just happened to be named Rinoa and he didn't want to deal with the two at the time.)

"What should we do with 'em?" Zidane looked to Fujin.

"Torture," Fujin said with a special smile.  Zidane instantly knew what she meant.

"So, kids…Did you hear about the bassist who locked his keys in his car?"

            Cloud blinked a few times.  Although he played guitar, he'd never heard this one before.  Well…actually, he probably had, but either hadn't been listening or had purposely forgotten it.

"It took them three hours to get the drummer out!" Zidane started laughing hysterically, and Aerith felt like crying.

                                                ~//~

            Three miserable hours later as Aerith and Cloud trudged up the stairs, Cloud glanced over to Aerith.

"Was it worth it?" he asked her.

            She paused, then smiled.

"Yeah.  Yeah, it was."

                                                ~//~


	13. Chapter XIII: Whatever Happened to Elena...

a/n: I hereby nominate this chapter for the 'shortest chapter ever' contest.

    …I  can't believe I forgot to include this earlier…

It's Friday (in the story at least o.O) and band camp is at it's last day…

*hears cheers from the few people who've bothered reading this story and feels bad*

Chapter XII:  Whatever Happened to Elena Anyways?

            Elena hadn't been present for band that Thursday, and quite a few people reported that the 'ghost of the 2nd floor dorm' was getting restless again since pounds and shrieks were coming from the couch where the ghost had been killed.  You know, before it became a ghost and all.

            Elena didn't show up the next day either.  It was okay, though.  Nobody missed her.

                                                            ~//~  


	14. Chapter XIV: The Final Day

Chapter XIV: The Final Day

            Friday was a solemn day for the band campers.  After the performance that would take place that night there would be no more band camp until next year.

"It's over.  This is the last music theory lesson, the last day with the Commander, the last everything…" Shera said somberly.

"To think I was worried about this week," Tifa smiled wistfully.  "I've had so much fun."  She paused, then grinned evilly.  "So has Aerith.  How'd the concert go last night?"

"Well, I got caught and had to endure two hours of horrible band jokes.  He told Cloud a bunch of boring guitar jokes forever, then asked what instrument I played.  I told him alto flute, and he kind of frowned…" Aerith explained, but was smiling.

"So did he tell you an alto flute joke?" Yuffie asked from where she was shoving clothes in her bag.

"He said to me, 'What key is an alto flute in?'"

"Um, it's…you said once…"  Shera bit her lip.  "It's something like G, right?"

"It is G," Aerith smiled, pleased that Shera remembered.  "So I answered, G.  And you know what he said?  'Right.  G.  Who cares.'"

            All three stared at her, then shook their heads.

"Zidane," Yuffie said, "is the one thing I will NOT miss about this camp.  Other than Commander Leonhart and such…"

            The others mumbled their agreement.

"Today we revolt!" Yuffie beamed, zipping up her suitcase.  "I've gotta run over the special mission with Cid!   Talk to you later!"  She waved as she ran out.

            The remaining three girls exchanged worried glances.

"Cid…Cid and Yuffie are capable to wreak a lot of havoc upon this camp alone.   But put 'em together…" Shera trailed off.

"Impending doom," was all Tifa said.

                                                ~//~

a/n: My chapters keep shrinking! AUGH!  I'll make sure number fifteen's really long…really really long to make up for all this!

      For the record, this story's about to end…mainly because I can't go much higher in roman numerals .

        Read and review, please, if you have time! ^-^  Love and peace, ~xifa~

a/n: that's the only alto flute joke listed that I've ever seen…kind of funny, ne?  I didn't laugh at all.


	15. Chapter XV: The Last Lunch

Xifa's Notes:

            I want to apologize, first and foremost, for taking so long to update.  Life's been hectic and distracting, and I just haven't made the time to do this.  However, yesterday or the day before or something like that, I sat down and finished the ENTIRE BAND CAMP STORY, and I've already reached chapter three of the sequel!  Hopefully you all don't hate me too much!  Here's the final few chapters in the band camp story, and I hope you all have enjoyed this.  I have.

Chapter XIV; The Last Lunch

            Cid and Yuffie had skipped Quistis's musical theory class, but they did show up for lunch.  Both had smug, pleased looks on their faces as if they had just gotten away with an impossible-to-pull-off crime.

            Which, indeed, they had.

"Well don't you two look like that cats that swallowed the canaries," Tifa arched an eyebrow, amused.  "What did you two do?"

            Cid and Yuffie burst out laughing to the point of tears, but never did answer the question.  Sephiroth looked to Yuffie, who was finally recovering from a fit of giggles.

"So, what's the deal with the revolt today?" he asked.

"SHHH!  Today everything is STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL!"  Yuffie whispered.  "You must NOT get us caught!!!"

"Sorry, sorry," Sephiroth laughed.  "I can't believe that band camp's almost over," he said, changing the topic to something that was less likely to get them in trouble.

"Me either," Aeris shook her head.  "It's been so much fun…"

"Can we stop getting all sad?!  Hello, we don't leave until tomorrow morning!"  Yuffie scowled, pouting about leaving in her own, personal way.

"Okay.  We'll stop," Sephiroth smiled.

"So, we haven't had to do anything pertaining to 'our jobs' yet," Shera said to Yuffie.  "What's the deal?"

"None of the groups got caught, so there was nothing for you to do," Yuffie shrugged.

"You were gonna use us to **_blame_**?!" Cid exclaimed.

"Ah," Yuffie laughed nervously.  "Think of it more as…you being our lawyers!"

            Four rubber bands went flying at Yuffie, coming from the general direction of Barret, Cid, Cloud, and Sephiroth.  Nanaki was still struggling with his, but it's the thought that counts.


	16. Chapter XVI: The Revolt

Xifa's Notes:  Don't own band camp, don't own the title really, and definitely don't own the characters, although I am looking for action figures of Cloud, Sephiroth, and Commander Leonhart, if anyone knows where to find them!!!

Chapter XVI: The Revolt

            Band practice that day was unusually suspenseful.  Everyone involved in the revolt was waiting to see whether their work had been successful or in vain.  ''The anti-s'', as Yuffie called them, were easily spotted amongst the group—they were the confused ones.  Elena was still AWOL, but that was okay.  Nobody complained.

"Why are you all so quiet?" Commander Leonhart frowned, glaring suspiciously at all of them.  His eyes lingered the longest on Yuffie, who just stared back at him.  He finally shook his head and reached for his baton.  He frowned and looked behind his conductor's score.  Nothing.  He looked around and finally glared at the bandies. 

"Who's got it?" he scowled.

"Not me," Yuffie smiled cheerfully.  "For once."

            He glared at her and then glanced up, something on the ceiling catching his eye.  Aeris glanced up to see what 'Doom of the Living' had pulled off.  On the ceiling was a colorful banner that read, ''Looking for me?''  Underneath was his baton, held up by masking tape.  Drawn messily on the tape with a crayon was, oddly, a tree.  Commander Leonhart scowled and pulled it down, then started the song.

            Even from the back where Sephiroth was sitting, he could tell there was a group of instruments really off-beat with the rest of the band.  He listened carefully (all the tenor saxes had in this particularly boring part of the song were quarter notes, so he didn't have to pay as much attention) and decided it was, collectively, the instruments that composed the group Clear Tranquil.  Sephiroth wondered if this was part of the revolt, but said nothing.  He looked over to Cloud, who shrugged at him once he realized Sephiroth was trying to get his attention.  As soon as Sephiroth had a rest, he held one finger up at Cloud as if to say, 'One minute and he notices we're offbeat'.

            Cloud grinned and shook his head, disagreeing.  Sephiroth set his watch, but had underestimated the commander.  Only fifteen seconds passed before he waved the band to a halt.

"Rude, where's the block?" he practically hissed.

"I dunno," Rude shrugged.

            Commander Leonhart threw his arm down angrily and started searching for it.  It only took him a minute to find the post-it note taped to the wood-block solo measure in the song.  'Please save me', it read.  Undoubtedly the work of the group Greased Lightning. 

            Cid and Yuffie had anticipated it to take awhile before Commander Leonhart put two and two together, but he had figured it out quickly.  He stormed outside, so naturally the rest of the bandies followed him like sheep follow their leader.

            Tied around one of the largest, widest, and oldest trees in the entire world was the woodblock.

"Omigosh…" Tifa laughed.  "So this was their plan…"

"I see Yuffie, but where's Cid?" Shera asked nervously.

"I think he's behind the tree so Commander Leonhart won't see him," Tifa pointed.  Shera walked behind the tree, and sure enough, Cid was standing there.

"Alright, let's light 'em up," he grinned, taking a drag from his cigarette before expertisely using it to light what appeared to be a firecracker.

"CID!!!  What have I told you about smoking?!" Shera cried.  "Hand them over!"

            Meanwhile, the other bandies were watching the woodblock nervously, wondering what was going to happen.  Commander Leonhart started walking toward it, and then stopped.  His expertise training had taught him to know better then to walk into such an obvious trap.

            And sure enough, with a loud POP, the woodblock went flying through the air.  Everyone watched as it went up, then fell to the ground, right at the Commander's feet.

"Oooh!  Do it again!"  a piccoloist named Heidigger yelled.  "GWAHhahaha—"

"Shove it," a French-hornist named Rufus told him, slicking his hair back. 

            It didn't matter.  All Yuffie needed as a go-ahead.  Using all the material she'd collected, the bandies, and even Commander Leonhart, watched in awe as fire, ice, and lightning shot through the air.  She ended it with a dramatic showy limit break of incandescent light.  Everyone was silent in amazement, and then slowly began clapping.

            Commander Leonhart picked up the charred remains of the wood block and turned to the group.

"An excellent performance.  Perhaps you could do it again during the climax of 'Holding My Thoughts in my Heart'?" he asked.

"What?" Yuffie asked, dumbstruck.

"Exactly as I said.  I want that at the key change in that song, at the climax.  And I want to take this time to tell you all that you're excellent musicians.  There's no practice needed to make tonight's performance better.  So, we're done playing for the rest of practice."

"So, you're not mad?" Yuffie asked incredulously, eyes wide as saucers and sparkling in almost an anime-style look.

"Mad?  I'm furious!  All of you, run laps until class would typically end!" Commander Leonhart barked.

            There was total silence as everyone stared in shock at him.  Did he have any idea how long that was?

"Ugh!  Give it to me!"

"Ow!"

            The bandies were naturally drawn to the source of the noise.  Shera had her hands shoved in an angry Cid's pockets.  They paused, jumping away from each other, hands behind their backs guiltily.

"Two extra laps for you two," Commander Leonhart put his head in hand, shaking it sadly.

Has anyone noticed how often he does this when he gets picked off in FF8?

Sorry, I didn't really know what would happen if you put a firecracker to a woodblock, so I took my creative license and just took a really wild guess.

Final notes:  Also, I want to thank The Author-2 for the idea.  I hope it was them.  I really do.  I have no idea who it was, but their name was at the top of the page a few chapters back, so I'm gonna assume it was them.  If not, kill me and if I come back I'll thank you too…

Love and peace,

Xifa

P.S.  I had last chapter down as 14 even though it was 15.  Sorry.


	17. Chapter XVII: The Bandies Almost Die In ...

Chapter XVII: The Bandies Die In This One…Sort Of…

            Approximately 59 laps later (61 for Shera and Cid), the band campers were once again flopped out on the yard.  There was little movement from anyone.  Even Sephiroth was slightly winded.

            However, as son as any of the campers who weren't any of the group All Creation started to get any energy, they'd stand up and walk towards Yuffie as if they were zombies.  Instruments in hand, these exhausted but cheesed off band campers could prove to be rather scary.

            It didn't help that Yuffie was completely drained of any energy.  Materia thieving had been her passion, not building endurance and climbing the Dao-Chao daily.  Running those laps?  It'd practically killed her.  Again, if doing all that work the first time Commander Leonhart got mad hadn't been enough.  She didn't have the ability at that moment to even _think_ about fighting off her new enemies.

            This time it was Hojo who was walking angrily towards Yuffie, revenge in his eyes.  Sephiroth sighed, tired of fighting off the girl's enemies for her.  Granted, one look was all it took, but he was tired of giving that 'one look'. 

"Sephy…gonna die…already dead…Hojo coming…" she panted, hardly able to speak.

            Sephiroth glared down at her, but couldn't hold the look.  The young ninja looked so helpless, staring up at him with sad brown eyes.  He sighed and glared at Hojo, who passed out on the spot.  Maybe it was heat exhaustion, or maybe it was Sephiroth.  At this point, either was equally likely.

            Five uneventful but peaceful moments passed before an entire group of people went at Yuffie.  Rude and Reno (who, along with Elena, had formed a gang Rufus started called the Turks), Rufus, Rufus's pet kitten Dark Nation, Heidigger, an alto saxist named Palmer, and Hojo (who'd recovered) all started walking towards her.  Yuffie let out a tiny cry and covered her eyes.

            Sephiroth sighed.  Too many to stare away.  He reached down and pulled the girl into his lap, smiling at the group, who retreated instantly.

            Cloud glanced over at Sephiroth, lifting an eyebrow lazily.

"What's up with this?" he asked.

            Sephiroth muttered something inaudible, glaring at Cloud.

"You'd do the same thing if it were Aeris," he scowled to Cloud.

"Yes, but I like Aeris," Cloud pointed out.  "You spent an hour last night convincing Cid, Vincent, and I that you didn't like her."

"What's he sayin' 'bout me, Sephy?" Yuffie yawned.

"Nothin'," Sephiroth mumbled.

            Cloud glanced at Sephiroth and smiled.

"I'll let you decide," he said, "whether tomorrow will really be the end or not."

A/n:  What color are Yuffie's eyes, anyways?  I think earlier I said they were green…maybe she wears contacts and it varies XD  Whatever…


	18. Chapter XVIII: Zidane and Fujin are Move...

a/n: This entire chapter is SYMBOLIC!  Go symbolism!

FF7 = Squenix's.  Not Xifa's.

Chapter XVIII: Zidane and Fujin are Moved to the Point of Tears

"I'm nervous for them," Zidane whispered to Fujin as they waited in the front row for the show to start.  "The kids look great," he continued.  "Squall's black-only idea worked great.  They look professional."

"True," Fujin agreed.

"You look great tonight too, y'know, in your black outfit," Zidane grinned nervously.

            (It might not seem like a big deal, judged by Zidane's typical behavior.  However, Fujin's personality is quite more intimidating than any of the other girls' Zidane typically associates himself with.)

            No response.  Zidane winced.

"Thanks," she finally smiled.

            The two of them shut up as Commander Leonhart walked out on stage.  He held out his baton and everyone took a deep breath.

"They look nervous.  I feel the same way," Zidane whispered.  Fujin nodded, and the sounds of the Squaresoft Overture filled the auditorium for about three blessed minutes.

"If the rest of the songs are even half that good," Zidane shook his head as everyone applauded.

            And the rest of the songs were excellent, Zidane and Fujin had no doubt about that.  They'd heard the bandies practice those songs multiple times on their own.  The only one they hadn't heard was the dramatic closing, 'Holding My Thoughts In My Heart'.  In addition to that, Yuffie (with Cid's help) was taking care of the never before seen pyrotechnics show.  Zidane and Fujin held their breath.  Beautiful music filled the auditorium, touching the hearts of everyone there.  A peaceful melody grew into a heartbreaking song, building and building until it finally reached a climax.  Yuffie's limit break 'All Creation' accompanying the music, it being the only light in the auditorium (save for the stand lights on the musicians' stands).  And then, everything that had happened so fast but so real died down, reducing down to just one flutist.  Everyone's stand lights clicked off and Yuffie's lights stopped.  All the light that was left in the auditorium now was the stand light of flutist Vincent Valentine as he ended the song with a perfect flute solo.

            By the end of it, Zidane and Fujin were both in tears.  Zidane was crying and Fujin was trying to make the both of them stop.

"It was so beautiful!  Whaddya think, Fu?"

"It's just like this week.  It starts out nicely, builds into something so real, so beautiful, and yet so uncontrollable.  Everything that happened so fast means so much to us, but it dies away at the end.  Yet, the echo is still there.  A beautiful memory, and yet…we share it alone, away from our summer friends…"

"Don't be so negative," Zidane shook his head.  "Maybe…maybe this isn't the end of it all."

"Destiny is in our hands," Fujin shrugged simply.  "It's up to us to decide our own fate.  Is this the end?  It's hard to tell at this point, now isn't it?"   

This is a song in the game, actually.  I downloaded the piano sheet music to it, but I haven't printed it off to play yet.  I think it's a reprise of the world map theme or whatever.

A/n:  I didn't give Vinny the solo because I play flute and wanted to give it to a flute.  I gave it to him because he's forkin' awesome -

Two more chapters left…

Love and peace,

Xiffie


	19. Chapter XIX: The Parting of the Ways

Chapter XIX: The Parting of the Ways

            The young ninja trudged across the campus miserably, a bag clutched in one hand, and a black case clutched in the other.  She was followed by a party of other miserable band campers, all holding bags, all holding cases, and all just as miserable as the young ninja.

"Well, guess this is goodbye," Tifa sighed.

"We have each other's addresses, so we'll be okay," Aeris forced a smile.

            And slowly, one by one, the band campers left.  Some partings happy, some sad, but what could be done?  It was required that everything ends at some point or another…nothing could be done, nothing at all…

"Well, Cloud, my train should be here any minute," Aeris sighed.  "It's been great meeting you."

"You too."

            She paused, as if expecting him to say more, but continued after he didn't.

"You're really nice.  Don't ever change," she smiled.

            He bit his lip, so many things he wanted to say running through his head, but none of them turning into words.  What did it matter if he liked her?  They lived on opposite sides of the Planet.  It was hopeless to wish for anything more, right?

"Bye, Cloud," she said sadly, walking toward the train.

            He couldn't say anything, all words lost.  There was no way for it to work out…was there?  Maybe…somehow…

            She was about to board the train when his own words came back to him.  As if watching his life from third person point-of-view, he could see himself talking to Sephiroth once again.

_"I'll let you decide whether tomorrow will really be the end or not."_

            Was there really any reason to end something that had, in a sense, truly only just begun? 

"Aeris!" he yelled, running after her.


	20. Chapter XX: Coda and the Confession of a...

Chapter XX: Coda and the Confession of a 10th Grade Band Geek

            On the last day, Yuffie let Elena out of her room for the price of al her materia.  Nobody noticed when she rejoined the group.  They hadn't really missed her that much anyway.

            And that's what happened during that one time, at band camp.

((This was more of an epilogue than the ending of the story…I also wanted it to end on an even number XD  So I know that wasn't much, but like I said, just an epilogue…))

            Hi, my name is Xifa.  I'm entering 10th grade this year and I'm a true blue band geek.  I also have a few confessions.

            The first should come as no surprise—I don't own Final Fantasy!  Kudos to Squenix for that.  And finally…the big secret…

            I, Xifa aka Laura, have never been to band camp! Was it really obvious?

            Thanks for reading this, everyone!  I heart all of you!  It's been fun!

Love and peace,

Xifa

P.S.  Stay tuned for the sequel, entitled 'Snack Cakes and Limit Breaks'!  It'll be posted around August 4th!   


End file.
